Wells Shows Complete Game

Gets 1 Hit, 27 Outs

Yanks Score 5 In 6th

ATLANTA — With one out to go, Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre started to jog out to the mound.

David Wells lifted his weary left arm and waved his sweaty hand. And Stottlemyre stopped.

``Not knocking Mel,'' Wells said. ``Sometimes you've just got to let a pitcher battle through it. I had a game plan.''

There's no arguing with Wells' game plans these days. It may even be time to get off him about his conditioning. Pitching on another steamy Atlanta evening, 93 degrees at game time, Wells swung the bat, ran the bases, pounced off the mound for a few fielding plays -- and made each of his 117 pitches count -- to shut down the Braves 6-0 Thursday before 49,052 at Turner Field.

Wells, 35, acknowledged feeling ``lightheaded'' late in the game, but he found relief in the air-conditioned clubhouse between innings and from trainer Gene Monahan's ammonia-soaked towels.

``That's why they call it Hot-lanta,'' Wells said. ``I told [the Braves'] Chipper Jones after that I never want to pitch here again. At least not when it's this hot. . . . I don't care if you're fat or skinny, when it's this hot you're going to sweat.''

It was assumed Wells wilted in the heat when he was knocked out of a game at Texas in early May, but he pitched his perfect game two starts later against Minnesota and has kept rolling. With his second shutout, Wells (10-2) got his ERA down to 3.92.

``Send the big Boomer to Colorado [for the All-Star Game],'' said David Cone, Wells' buddy and fellow 10-game winner. ``I have never seen the Boomer this confident. I don't know if it's the perfect game or what, but his game has really come together.''

Wells allowed six hits, walked none -- extending his streak to 30 innings without one -- and struck out five. He threw 86 strikes and started 24 of 33 batters with strike one. Fastballs in and out, changeups and curves, nearly all where Wells and catcher Joe Girardi wanted.

``Every pitch has a thought behind it now,'' said Stottlemyre, who wanted only to give Wells a breather before the last batter.

Added Girardi: ``He was fun to catch, because of the location and the creativity.''

Wells brought creativity, or perhaps comedy, to his first plate appearances in a year. He got the Yankees' first hit, a single to left off Denny Neagle (8-6, 3.48) in the third.

He hacked at a 2-and-0 pitch when Neagle was having trouble finding the plate and eventually struck out in the fifth. In the seventh, Wells, who idolizes Babe Ruth, hit a fly ball to the wall in right- center that might have been out of Yankee Stadium, but which was caught by Gerald Williams.

But he remained the Sultan of Sweat, not Swat. ``I had no clue up there,'' he said. ``I was happy just to put the bat on the ball and not look too bad.''

The rest of the Yankees hitters, the most patient lineup in the game, made life as miserable for Neagle as they did for Kevin Millwood in a 10-6 victory Wednesday. Neagle retired 12 of the first 13 batters, but in the fifth he lost the plate. He walked three and threw a wild pitch that inning, but the Yankees squandered the opportunity.

In the sixth, Neagle started with walks to Chuck Knoblauch and Derek Jeter, then started making fatter pitches. Paul O'Neill drove a 3-and-1 pitch to right- center for a two-run triple, Tim Raines singled through a drawn-in infield to score O'Neill and Chad Curtis, jumping on a 2-and-0 pitch, drove it into the left field seats for a 5-0 lead.

``It's hard for a pitcher to live on the edges of the plate,'' Curtis said. ``Usually, [Neagle] can. When he paints his spots, he can beat anybody. But he wasn't as sharp tonight. He walked a couple of guys, then I think he had to get more of the plate than he wants to.''

The Yankees (53-19) added an unearned run in the eighth, completing a 3- of-4 take in this home-and-home series with the Braves (51-28).

``Any series is important,'' manager Joe Torre said, ``but of course you feel good when you beat the team with the best record in the National League. It's a feather in your cap.''